Thursday, January 23, 2014

Ruth First: Não Vamos Esqueçer (We Will Not Forget)

Review of African Political Economy 40th Anniversary

Since 1974 ROAPE has
provided radical analysis of trends, issues and social processes in Africa,
adopting a broadly materialist interpretation of change. It sustains a critical
analysis of the nature of power and the state in Africa in the context of
capitalist globalisation.

Ruth First: Não Vamos Esqueçer (We Will
Not Forget)

The South African
revolutionary Ruth First made an extraordinary contribution to activism and
radical writing and research on Africa. She worked as a journalist in South
Africa from 1946 until her exile in the UK in 1964. She then became an editor,
co-author and author of a large number of books, as well as a lecturer. She was
also one of the founding members of the Review of African Political Economy
(RoAPE) in 1974, a radical journal committed to transforming (and
understanding) Africa’s political economy.

In the late 1970s First moved to Mozambique as Director of Research at
the Centro de Estudos Africanos at the Universidade Eduardo Mondlane in Maputo.
In 1982 she was murdered in Maputo by the apartheid state. Drawing on papers
presented at the 2012 Ruth First Papers Project symposium, RoAPE has produced a
special issue that includes contributions from Anne-Marie Gentili, Gavin Williams
and Alpheus Manghezi. The special issue on Ruth First is the story of First’s
life in Mozambique, and her broad and substantial contribution to radical
African studies.

Much of Ruth First’s work and life remains unknown to a new
generation yet her work was of such impressive scope, her activism so
courageous. Join us to celebrate the extraordinary life of Ruth First and the
launch of the Ruth First Special Issue.